I-beam sawhorse or support structure



Sept 29, 119:70 M. D. RICE l 13,530,955

I-'BEAM SAWHORSE OR- SUPPORT STRUCTURE j INVENTOR MACON D. RICE ATTR Ys Sept. 29, 1970 y M. D. RICE A 3,530,955

I-BEAM SAWHORSE 0R SUPPORT STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 31, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `INVENTOR MACON D. RICE ATTORNEYS United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 182-181 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sawhorse or like support structure employing an I-beam body member providing oppositely directed upper and lower flanges and removable leg members of rectangular configuration mounted in laterally outwardly and axially outwardly inclined rectangular through leg openings formed adjacent the opposite ends of the lower flanges with the upper leg ends angle cut to abuttingly engage the under face of the upper flanges and provided with spreader and retainer means to maintain the legs in proper assembled relation to the I-beam body member. The oppositely directed edges of the upper I-beam are provided with pin retaining openings and a saw board having dependent clamp strips laterally spaced to receive the upper I-beam flange and pin receiving openings axially spaced to align with the pin retaining flange openings is provided to adapt the sawhorse for use as a carpenters worktable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Sawhorse or like support structures of the prior art have for the most part comprised expensive multi-part hinged connected structures exemplified by United States Letters Patent 1,191,687 issued July 18, 1916, to F. L. Gillett, and 1,531,045 issued Mar. 24, 1925, to C. L. Swaisgood all metal units made up of clamp screw dctachable leg sockets adapted to slidably receive an I-beam body member and threaded leg members or headers having slideways for the legs and sockets for the main reaches or beams respectively exemplified by United States Letters Patent 1,147,668 issued July 20, 1915, to I. R. Anderson, and 576,693 issued Feb. 9, 1897, to J. Ratledge, or semipermanently assembled bolted leg units or simple socket type leg sockets and spreader bars respectively exemplified on the one hand by United States Letters Patent 2,721,060 issued Oct. 18, 1955 to C. F. Moran and on the other hand by United States Letters Patent 467,081 issued Ian. 12, 1892, to M. B. Church and 3,241,633 issued Mar. 22, 1966, to R. M. Bond et al. Such structures are either too complicated and expensive, too loosely associated and weak, or too ditiicult to assemble on the operational site to meet with favor in construction projects requiring many units, in the case of boatsmen, home workshop users and campers requiring minimal storage and transportation volume as well as maximum strength and reliability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a main body member in the form of an I-beam to assure maximum strength and weight in the body member and having through leg openings, preferably of rectangular configuration adjacent the lower flange ends inclined laterally outwardly and axially outwardly, providing equi-length leg members dimensioned to freely pass through said leg openings to position the upper leg end faces, angle cut parallel to the opposite end faces, in subjacent relation to the upper I-beam flanges, and providing leg spreader and retainer means operative to spread the lower leg portions laterally and bring the upper leg end faces into full area butting relation with the upper I-beam anges adjacent the connecting web to concentrate the supported weight directly on the 3,530,955 Patented Sept. 29, 1970 ICC upper ends of the divergent legs thereby assuring and maintaining proper leg divergency due to the canting stresses applied to the leg members between the upper leg ends and the contact between the leg opening outer walls and the legs themselves.

More particularly the present invention resides in providing a sawhorse or like support structure wherein the I-beam body member comprises a metal I-beam the 0pposite lower flange ends of which are axially through slotted to form leg openings, the leg members comprise plywood strips the opposite ends of which are angle cut in parallelism to establish parallel abutment faces for respectively engaging the under faces of the upper I-beam flanges and the support surface upon which the structure rests when the proper lateral and axial divergency of the legs is attained, and leg spreader and retainer means operatively associated with said leg members when proper divergency is attained to maintain such divergency and retain the leg members against disassembly upon lifting the structure to move it from place to place.

,Still another object of the present invention is to provide the support structure of the preceding object with a readily attachable and detachable saw board whereby the support structure may be converted into a table-like structure for use of the carpentry profession.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a metal I-beam bodied sawhorse or like support structure of relatively few and simple parts that may be readily and quickly assembled and disassembled without the need of tools, other than a mallet, hammer, or the like, adapting the structure for rapid 0n the site assembly and disassembly, ready transportation and storage, and maximum utility in that it is adapted to support hot articles, a saw board converting it to use by carpenters as a worktable, and be used in paired or other multiples to provide varying height or equi-height support surfaces for camp tables and benches, boat racks and the like, and the needs of varying classes of construction works merely by a choice of leg length which can be effected on the use site by cutting the desired length legs in set multiples from available plywood sheets or available boards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS i:

Still other objects will appear from the following description and appended caims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a sawhorse or like support structure depicting a preferred form of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the structure of FIG. 1 as seen from the right of FIG. 1 with the I-beam broken away between its opposite ends;

F'IG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 Of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows to better illustrate the manner in which the anchor pins are assembled to position the saw board and the manner in which the leg openings are inclined axially to provide axial leg divergency and ready assembly of the legs either by insertion upwardly or downwardly through the leg openings in the lower I-beam flange;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along line 4 4 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows to illustrate the ymanner of assembly of the leg spreader and retainer means (retainer pins) of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the sawhorse or like support structure of FIG. 1 disassembled and on a reduced scale to illustrate a preferred manner of intertting the various parts for transportation between use sites and for storage;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views respectively similar to FIG. 1 and the lower leg end of FIG. 2 illustrating a modified 3 form of leg spreader and retainer provided by the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a View similar to FIG. l illustrating a further modified form of leg spreader and retainer provided by the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmental end elevational view illustrating a further spreader and retainer means provided by this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With continued reference to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the several views to indicate the same parts, the sawhorse support structure 10 of the present invention in a preferred form is made of five principal components, namely, an I-beam body member 11, preferably a metal structural I-beam, four end leg members 12, preferably plywood strips of or l inch thickness and 3 or 4 inches width cut to suitable 3, 4- or S-foot lengths, and a saw board cover plate 13 of l-inch plywood adapted for selective attachment to the upper I-beam flange 114 when it is desired to provide a table surface adapting the support structure for certain uses, such as a carpenters bench for use on building construction sites or in home workshops. While four leg members 12 will suffice for normal length support structures, it is to be understood that additional leg members 12 may be provided between the end leg members 12 in event an I-beam body member 11 of abnormal length is desired.

In order to assure a stable support structure resistant to accidental upsetting in use, the present invention contemplates providing the lower Ibeam flange portions 15 with axially elongated through leg openings 16 adjacent their lateral edges of mating cross-sectional configuration at the upper faces of flanges having opposing lateral walls diverging in a downward direction at a suicient angle to assure the lower ends of the assembled legs to engage the floor or other support surface 17 laterally outwardly of the longitudinal edge faces of the lower ange portions 15 with the upper leg ends abuttingly engaging the under opposing faces of the upper flange portions 18 immeditaely adjacent the connecting web 19 of I-beam 11. Similarly, the outer end walls of leg openings 16 diverge in a downward direction at a suflicient angle to assurethe lower ends of the assembled legs to engage the floor or other support surface axially outwardly of the opposite ends of body member 11. To assure full surface engagement of the leg ends with the under faces of upper ange portions 18 and assure level setting on the support surface, the opposite leg ends are angle cut from edgeto edge (see FIGS. 2, 3, 5, and 7) and bevel cut from face to face (see FIGS. 1, 4, 6 and 8) in parallelism. Knowing the angle of divergence of the opposing lateral walls of leg openings 16, the bevel angle is readily determined to be the reciprocal of the angle of divergence, While knowing the angle of divergence of the outer end wall of leg openings 16, the angle cut is readily determined to be the reciprocal of this further angle of divergence. With this information at hand and knowing the leg length desired, it is a simple matter to set either a power driven table saw or hand saw to accurately preform plywood strips of appropriate width to provide any desired number of leg members 12 either for factory production or for job site production and replacement.

While leg members 12 may be readily inserted downwardly through leg openings 1'6 with body member 11 inverted and resting on upper flange 14, there are times when on the site assembly may be more readily effected by entering leg members 12 through leg openings 16 with body member 11 right side up. To permit such right side up assembly, the inside walls 21 of leg openings 16 are preferably oppositely divergently inclined downwardly as indicated (FIGS. l, 6 and 8 and 2, 3 and 5). Assembly is affected by raising one end of body member 11 above ground and either lowering the legs end wise past the side edges of upper flange portions 18 into and through the upper ends of leg openings 16 until the upper ends clear upper flange portions 18 and then swinging the upper ends inwardly toward connecting web 19 around the upper ends of side walls 21 as a fulcrum until the upper ends are disposed beneath flange portions 18 adjacent web 19 or by lowering the legs end wise past the ends of upper flange portions 18 into and through the upper ends of leg openings 16 until the upper ends clear upper flange portions 18 and then swinging the upper ends parallel to connecting web 19 around the upper ends of end `walls 21 as a fulcrum and then inwardly toward connecting web 19 around the upper ends of side walls 21`as a fulcrum until the upper ends are disposed beneath flange portions 18 adjacent web 19. When the two legs at one end are positioned in their final positions and the raised end of body member 11 is lowered onto the upper leg ends, the weight component of body member 11 will be sufficient to spread the lower leg ends until the inner face edges of the upper leg ends firmly abut connecting web 19 with the upper end faces in full surface engagement with the under faces of flange portions 18 and the outer face portions of leg members 12 spanned by leg openings 16 will be in full surface engagement with the outer side walls of the respective leg openings 16. Assembly of the two opposite end legs is then effected in the same manner to complete the leg assembly. So long as the weight component of body member 11 is applied downwardly on the assembled legs 12, legs 12 will be firmly locked in proper divergent supporting relation to body member 11 and the support structure will provide a stable, firm support reasonably resistant t0 accidental overturning and inward displacement of the lower ends of the respective leg members. However, the present invention contemplates the provision of spreader and retainer means for maintaining proper assembly of leg members 12 in event it should be necessary to move the support structure from place to place or should an upsetting force of sufficient magnitude be applied to lift any two adjacently related side legs or end legs off the ground and shift the center of gravity suflciently to cause the support structure to topple over. This means may take any suitable form and three suitable forms are here illustrated.

Referring for the moment to FIGS. l through 5, the spreader and retainer means takes the form of retainer pins 25. These pins may be wooden pegs, metal pins, or could, if desired, be conventional roll pins. Pins 25 eX- tend through suitably formed pin receiving openings 26 through drilled from face to face of the leg members inwardly from the upper leg end faces on the longitudinal leg centerline preferably at a distance from the end faces equal to the length of a diagonal extending from an upper leg corner to its intersection with the centerline to permit storage of the leg members as hereinafter pointed out and are snug fitted into pin retaining apertures 27 (FIG. 4) driuea in web 19 ilwardly from its ends in vertically axially centered relation to leg openings 16 in position to align with pin receiving openings 26 when leg members 12 are properly assembled as heretofore described. Such pins secure the legs against retrograde relative downward movement through leg openings 16 in an obvious manner. As any stress or force applied in a direction to change the lateral or aXial divergency of the pinned legs will tend to fulcrum the legs around the close fitting upper edges of leg openings 16 with a resulting tendency to vertically shift pin receiving openings 26, the pins also offer shear resistance to such movement and serve to maintain the planned divergency.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 an alternate form of spreader and retainer means is disclosed in the form of a cross-bar or plate 28 notched inwardly from its ends along one edge as indicated at 29 to closely embrace the leg side faces adjacent one edge and interfit vwith inclined slots 31 extending inwardly from the other leg edge. The spacing between notches 29 is preferably chosen to assure a slight outward pressure on the interconnected legs below the areas of engagement between the outer leg faces and the outer axially directed walls of leg openings 16. This cross-bar, due to the relative close fitting upper edges of leg openings 16, the interfit between the cross-bar and legs, and the area engagement of the upper leg end faces with flange portions 18, effectively locks the legs against bodily movement relative to body member 11 thus maintaining axial leg divergency as well as lateral leg divergence.

Referring to FIG. 8 a further alternate form of spreader and retainer means is disclosed in the form of respective tension springs 32 permanently freely suspended from the underface of upper flange portions 18 in any suitable manner, for example screw eyes 33 threaded into flange portions 18 and connected to one spring end, and extended around lower flange portions and connected at its other end to screw eyes 33 threaded into leg members 12 below lower flange portions 15. The spring tension in this arrangement is effective and applies a force component axially of leg members 12 to yieldingly clamp the upper leg end faces against flange portions 18 and a yielding force component outwardly on the portions of leg members 12 below the lower flange of body member 11 tending to swing the lower ends of laterally opposed legs outwardly. These force components yieldingly maintain the intended axial and lateral divergency of the legs and prevent leg members 12 from retrograde movement relative to body member 10 particularly when moving the support structure from place to place.

The support structure as described up to this point makes a highly effective sawhorse structure useful in supporting boats and other articles at a convenient height for repair, painting and like operations, including forming and bending of heated metal parts since body member 11 is of heavy metal and fire proof capable of serving as an anvil as well as a support, mounting of foot boards for painters, plasterers, and other construction workers who can, by the simple substitution of leg sets for varying length, provide themselves with proper height working areas and to support large plyboard or like sheets to form tables for church suppers, bazaars and carnival stands. Furthermore, since the actual support member, body member 11, is of heavy metal there is little likelihood of marring or otherwise damaging the support surface should heavy objects fall against it or be dropped upon it, heavy objects can be readily shifted back and forth without danger of tearing the support surface, and since upper flange portions 18 are readily accessible for the mounting of various clamp devices, stops and chocks can be readily fixed to body member 11 to prevent undesired shifting and tilting of articles upon which work is being done.

To further extend the usefulness of support structure 10, the present invention contemplates the provision of blind pin or bolt retaining holes 35 (FIGS. 1 and 3) in the opposing edges of upper flange portion 18, preferably equally spaced therealong, to receive securing pins or bolts 36 for fixedly mounting a sawboard 13 in covering relation to the exposed face of upper flange 14. Sawboard 13, as best seen in FIGS. l, 6 and 8, is of greater width than upper flange 14 and is provided along its under longitudinal marginal edges with attachment strips 38, illustrated as quarter round wood strips, having through openings 39 (FIG. l) therethrough spaced therealong for mating alignment with pin or bolt retaining holes 35 and dimensioned to freely pass pins or bolts 36. In assembling sawboard 13, pins or bolts 36 are removed from holes 35, sawboard 13 is placed in position on upper flange 14 with its attachment strips abuttingly engaging the side edges of flange 14 and slide axially therealong to bring through pin openings 39 into aligned position opposite holes 35. Pins or bolts 36 are then entered through openings 39 into pin holes 35 to flxedly secure sawboard 13 to upper flange 14 thereby converting support structure 10 into a work table usable as a carpenters bench upon which workpieces may be supported for sawing, boring, planing, and other operations with sawboard 13 serving as a backing surface to prevent the cutting tools from being damaged by contacting metal Support member 11. While sawboard 13 is illustrated as being only slightly longer than support member 11, it can be of substantially greater length, sufficient to extend over two, three, or more support structures 10 placed in end to end abutting or spaced relation so long as the pin or bolt receiving openings are equally axially spaced.

Pins or bolts 36 are here illustrated as separate and independent members having their outer ends protruding from the securing strips 38 to permit ready removal either by hand or use of pliers or the like if needed. However, these could be lever actuated in unison, if desired, by fitting a suitable pin bar and lever actuating mechanism of well known construction to attachment strips 38 and the sawboard 13. Also pins or bolts 36 may be augmented by heavy dowel pins 41 spaced along the centerline of sawboard 13 and received in blind sockets 42 extending into web 19 to further flx sawboard 13 against axial bodily movement when it is desired to plane the workpiece or groove the workpiece using either power driven hand tools or hammer and chisel. If desired one or more dowels 41 may extend above the surface of sawboard 13 to act as an abutment stop for a workpiece being planed as illustrated in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2.

The particular structure of FIGS. 1 through 4 lends itself admirably for use by construction and contracting firms requiring multiple units because of its unique storage and transportation features. In this connection, the support and table structure of FIG. l can be disassembled by removing pins 25 and legs 12 and then placing pairs of legs 12 in overlapped face-to-face relation against connecting web 19 with their respective pin receiving holes 26 aligned with respective pin retaining apertures 27 of web 19 and inserting pins 25 to hold the respective legs in place between the upper and lower flanges of body member 11 as shown in FIG. 5. In this connection, the particular spacing of pin receiving openings inwardly from the upper end faces of legs 12 assures the ability to effect such storage of legs 12 since its determines a sufl ficient spacing of pin retaining apertures 27 from the under face of upper flange portions 18 to accommodate the legs inclined as shown in FIG. 5. When arranged for transportation and storage as just described all separable parts of each support structure 10 are kept together for handling as a unit, occupy a minimal amount of space,

and are in condition fon loading in trucks in side-by-siderows stacked one on top the other thereby minimizing transportation costs from job to job, assuring that all parts required to assemble a support structure will be together when delivered to and taken from one job t0 another job or to or from storage, and minimizing storage space when delivered to storage.

Referring to FIG. 9 a further alternate form of spreader and retainer means is disclosed in the form of a swivelling cross-bar or plate 36 the opposite ends of which are arcuately oppositely curved in a laterally direction as indicated at 37 to form wedging cam faces adapted to abuttingly engage the opposing inner faces of legs 12 immediately beneath the lower flange portions 15. Cross-bar 36 intermediate its ends is provided with a circular through passage 38 adapted to have a journalled fit with a depending stud shank 39 threaded into a sutiably tapped blind bore 41 laterally centered in the lower lI-beam flange between the opposite leg openings 16. Cross-bar 36 is placed upon stud shank 39 after the legs 12 are in place supporting the I-beam body member 11 and retained in place by a wing nut 42 for rotation (clockwise as viewed in FIG. 9 to engage and disengage arcuate cam faces 37 with the inner leg faces by means of a blow struck with a hammer, block, or the like. With the cross-bar wedged between the legs wing nut 42 is threaded on the stud shank to retain cross bar 36 in wedging engagement to lock the legs in assembled relation.

If desired, the lower leg ends may be fitted with cuplike rubber or compositoin anti-skid shoes 43 (FIG. 8) to tix the sawhorse against sliding on a smooth floor surface and, in event metal legs are -employed to prevent striking of sparks when the sawhorse is employed in factory or like buildings housing explosives. Suitable self locking caster wheels of plastic (not shown) may be employed in lieu of shoes 43 when desired.

The invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come Within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A sawhorse or like support structure comprising a body member of I-beam configuration in cross section the lower oppositely directed flanges of which adjacent their opposite ends are provided with laterally outwardly and axially outwardly inclined through leg openings; respective leg members having a cross sectional configuration adapting them for insertion into said leg openings and their opposite ends angle cut in parallelism to establish oppositely directed abutment end faces, said respective leg members being adapted inwardly from one of said end faces to cooperate with leg spreader and retainer means; and spreader and retainer means formed to matingly cooperate with said leg members to maintain the lower ends of said legs at a fixed divergency with respect to said I-beam leg openings to assure bearing engagement of the upper leg end faces with said upper I- beam flange adjacent its juncture With the connecting web of said I-beam.

2. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein said body member comprises a metal I-beam the leg openings of which are arranged with their major dimension parallel to the connecting web portion of the I-beam and said leg members comprise equal lengths of plywood dimensioned to lit said leg openings with their opposite end faces in respective full surface engagement With the under faces of said upper I-beam anges and the support surface upon which said support structure rests.

3. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein the oppositely directed lateral edges of said upper I-beam flange is provided with axially, equi-spaced pin retaining openings and a saw board having dependent axially directed, laterally spaced clamp strips disposed to closely receive the upper I-beam ange therebetween and provided with pin receiving openings axially spaced to align with said pin retaining openings of said upper I-beam flange and retainer pins dimensioned to snugly fit respective aligned pairs of said openings provided to xedly secure said saw board to said I-beam thereby adapting said support structure for use by carpenters.

4. The I-beam support structure of claim 3 wherein said upper I-beam -ange along its axial centerline is provided with upwardly opening anchor pin sockets, said saw board along its axial centerline is provided with anchor pin receiving through openings axially spaced to align with said anchor pin sockets, and anchor pins are entered through said anchor pin receiving through openings into said anchor pin sockets and dimensioned so aS to fix said saw board against planar movement relative to said upper I-beam flange.

5. The I-beam support structure of claim 4 wherein the anchor pin sockets comprise equi-depth blind openings and said anchor pins are axially dimensioned to bottom in said blind openings with their upper ends flush with the upper surface of said saw board.

`6. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein said spreader and retainer means comprise respective retainer pins extending through said leg passage means into aligned pin retainer openings in the connecting I-beam web and the length of said I-beam body member is sufficiently greater than the length of said leg members and the spacing between said u'pper and lower I-beam flanges is such that respective pairs of said leg members, when disassembled from said leg openings, may be stored within the confines of related pairs of said upper and lower flanges with said retainer pins entered through said leg passage means of the respective legs into the respectively aligned pin retainer openings thereby adapting said support structure for ready transportation and storage.

7. The I-beam support structure of claim f1 wherein said respective leg members are provided equidistantly inwardly from their opposite ends with laterally directed edge slots inclined away from one edge toward said opposite end'and said spreader and retainer means comprises a cross member slotted inwardly fromv one edge adjacent its opposite ends to matingly interlock with said leg slots.

8. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein said respective leg members below said lower I-beam flange are provided with a screw eye and said upper I-beam flange members in juxtaposition to the upper ends of said respective leg members pivotally mount in axial dependent relation respective tension springs the free dependent ends of which when coupled under tension to said respective leg members act to spread said leg members and retain them in end butted engagement with said upper I-beam ange members.

9. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein said connecting web in vertically spaced relation below said upper flange and inwardly from its opposite ends is provided with pin retaining openings opening through the opposing web faces, said leg members inwardly from their upper ends and along the longitudinal centerlines are provided with pin receiving through openings adapted to be axially aligned with said pin retaining openings when said leg members are assembled in lateral and axial divergent relation to said body member, and said spreader and retaining means comprises pins dimensioned to snugly fit said pin openings entered through said through openings into said pin retaining openings.

10. The I-beam support structure of claim 1 wherein said spreader and retainer means comprises a swivelling cross-bar the opposite ends of which are arcuately oppositely curved in a lateral direction to form wedging cam faces are the center of which is provided with a through journal passage, a dependent stud shank and wing nut assembly disposed in the lower I-beam ange in laterally centered position between the opposite leg openings and cooperating with said through journal passage to swivelly mount said cross-bar for movement between an inoperative position and a wedging position with its cam faces firmly engaging said leg members immediately below said lower I-beam flange, said wing nut being threadable along said stud shank to clamp said cross-bar in wedging position and to release said cross-bar for swivelling movement between its two positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,129,410 2/1915 Macklem 182-225 2,635,013 4/1953 Doucette 182-181 3,008,535 ll/l96l De Vries 182-151 3,241,633 3/1966 Bond 182-151 3,311,194 3/1967 Kriplen Y 182-226 REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner 

